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OIE Joins World Health Day Celebrations

FRANCE - The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) will be involved in the launch of World Health Day 2015, to be held on 7 April.

This year, the event focuses on the importance of food safety.

The Director General of the World Organisation for Animal Health, Dr Bernard Vallat, will be present alongside the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr Margaret Chan, as well as representatives of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the French Ministers of Health and Agriculture.

This will be an opportunity for WHO to promote actions to be taken at global, regional and national level to ensure food safety and access for all to a plentiful and balanced supply of food.

Food safety, within the context of the global food chain and the growing demand for animal protein, is both a challenge and a shared responsibility, which the OIE, on behalf of its Member Countries, treats with the utmost seriousness.

To be able to meet this demand for milk, eggs and meat and guarantee their safety, it is first of all essential to control pathogens in animals on the farm.

Eliminating or controlling food hazards at source has proved more effective than an approach relying solely on checking the finished product.

In addition to the excellent collaboration between the international organisations in the work of preparing intergovernmental sanitary standards, the theme for World Health Day 2015 provides the perfect opportunity to emphasise the importance of the animal health and public health services working together at national level to ensure food safety throughout the food chain.

The event will be held at the Marché International de Rungis (Rungis International Market), near Paris.